# Jokes Independentally Created By Two Sources **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 13, 2013, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-independentally-created-by-two-sources/650158 "2013-02-13T05:47:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-independentally-created-by-two-sources/650158/1 "2013-02-13T05:47:20Z")
Sorry for the awkward title, but have you ever come up with a joke or other piece of humour that was independentlly created by someone else? For example, to-day with regards to the events in Southern California, I came up with the quip “Who wants some Dorner kebabs tonight?” which unsurprisingly was arrived at independently by others already. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-independentally-created-by-two-sources/650158/2 "2013-02-13T06:03:00Z")
Back in the 70s nearly everyone in the world thought up “Sunshine on my shoulders makes me sunburn, sunshine in my eyes can make me blind” simultaneously and independently. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-independentally-created-by-two-sources/650158/3 "2013-02-13T07:28:52Z")
I’m failing to think of an example at the moment, but I have encountered the phenomena several times, when there is some well publicized incident or tragedy that gets a ton of attention. A lot of similar 9/11 jokes sprung up. And a lot of jokes about one tragedy can be slightly modified and recycled for another, which also tends to produce similar jokes from different sources. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-independentally-created-by-two-sources/650158/4 "2013-02-13T10:28:31Z")
Monday morning, upon reading the news about the Pope resigning, on Twitter I wrote: “Holy See? More like Holy See-ya-later!” That very same night, that joke was used on _The Colbert Report_. Way back in high school, I independently came up with “Does the Pope shit in the woods?” (combination of “Is the Pope Catholic”/“Does a bear shit in the woods?”). A few years later I heard it in a movie (don’t remember which movie, but it was _before_ the same line was used in _The Big Lebowski_) and have heard it through other sources since. When I came up with it it was pre-Twitter, so I have no record of when I first used it- unlike my documented pre-Colbert use of “Holy See-ya-later”. I was so upset at losing my claim to “Does the Pope shit in the woods?” that I felt compelled to replace it with an even better variation. So far, I have been the only person to use my new variation. I hereby document my genius in IMHO for all posterity: “Does a Catholic Bear shit in the Pope’s hat?” ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-independentally-created-by-two-sources/650158/5 "2013-02-13T13:42:08Z")
Way back when the movie Arachnophobia came out, there were some issues with Iraq (I forget what specifically). Seems like every talk show host used the term Iraq-nophobia in their monologues. On a personal level, I used the term Gas Station Sushi before it was used on a current insurance commercial…I am so proud. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-independentally-created-by-two-sources/650158/6 "2013-02-13T15:28:29Z")
“Mind like a steel sieve” and “It’s not rocket surgery” were invented by me long before they were invented by everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![FrankJBN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@FrankJBN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrankJBN)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-independentally-created-by-two-sources/650158/7 "2013-02-13T15:44:37Z")
“Does the Pope shit in the woods?” At least no later than the 70s and published in Fabulous furry Freak brothers comic. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jokes-independentally-created-by-two-sources/650158/8 "2013-02-15T13:50:03Z")
I thought of the phrase “Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.” a short time before it was used by Johnny Carson in his monologue.